Brand New Day: Advertising agencies are generally viewed as nothing more than organized, high priced hucksters. But here is what one agency did, quickly, to dispel that stereotype. Austin, Texas shop GSD&M called the Ad Council on Wednesday morning, when the rest of us got the full picture of how awful the situation is, to […]

The Hidden Persuader posted this Neil Frenchism last week. “The answer to making an ad is always in the product, if you look for it. Our task is not just to find that answer though – it’s to make the answer relevant to someone who, at present, doesn’t give a shit about it. So first […]

Beer is sold through a distribution channel. Often times, beer marketers even call the distributor “the customer,” since the distributor has to be sold first, before the end user. According to Adweek, Budweiser is placing increased empahasis on their distribution channel. Anheuser-Busch is about to debut folksy TV ads in its bid to be more […]

Tom Asacker unleashed a pearl on change. There are two types of change: change within a system of beliefs; beliefs that stay the same. And change in your system of beliefs; e.g. your assumptions about the marketplace, customers, and your role. If you want to change, you have to change twice. Yes, you must change […]

The Gap did some wonderful ads a few years back. The reason I say “wonderful” is because the ads used celebrities in a refreshing way. Jack Kerouac Wore Khakis. That’s clean. And clean is nice. Now, The Gap has a new set of celebs—Liz Phair, Keith Urban, Joss Stone, Jason Mraz and Alanis Morissette—plus a […]

Hugh MacLeod points to a new Technorati feature, where it’s easy to find blogs by category. In the Advertising category, Adjab is ranked atop the list. Whereas Adrants is not ranked at all. I expect that to change shortly, when Steve Hall finds out about this and enters appropriate “tags” that will lead to his […]

Yes. THIS Mr. Bill… In 2004, he appeared in a number of PSA’s designed to inform New Orleans citizens about the importance of protecting our wetlands. Click here. Watch “Hurricane Sluggo.” (I think you need Windows Media Player to watch it). Walter Williams, Mr. Bill’s creator, is a native of New Orleans, I believe. I’m […]

USA Today: Cadillac is killing DeVille — the name, not the car. It has redesigned the model that’s been DeVille and renamed it DTS — which has stood for DeVille Touring Sedan on previous models — to conform with Caddy’s three-letter model names: SRX, XLR, STS. (Submit questions now: Chat with James R. Healey, 2 […]

New York Times: The United States Open tennis tournament, which got under way this week, appears to be aptly named – the blue-chip sponsors for 2005 are more open than ever to trying nontraditional methods to reach consumers. For example, Canon hired tall blonde women dressed to resemble the tennis star Maria Sharapova to mingle […]

Brains On Fire, a Greenville, South Carolina identity firm is offering office space to ad peeps displaced by Katrina. Dear All, We have been watching, as I am sure everyone has, the complete devastation along he Gulf. And wondering what to do. This morning I had a thought. Brains on Fire occupies a space in […]